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Available now... an electronic version of the very popular flashbook by Carlton Doe : IBM Informix Dynamic Server: The Next Generation OLTP Data Server Technology . Up until today... the only way to get this book and the excellent content inside was if you were attending an event where the book was being handed out. Now you can access and read the content at your convenience with this e-version of the same book. What is a flashbook? A flashbook is a professionally published book that is roughly 100 pages in length and it introduces you to the... [More]

I just realized that I haven't blogged about our certification program in some time. I dusted off a blog entry I did last year, updated it, and voila, here it is: DB2 has six current certification exams that each lead to a different certification role. The most common certification is IBM Certified Database Administrator. Here are the exams that cover DB2 9 content: * Exam 730 - DB2 9 Fundamentals * Exam 731 - DB2 9 DBA for Linux, Unix, and Windows* Exam 732 - DB2 9 DBA for z/OS* Exam 733 - DB2 9 Application Developer * Exam 734 - DB2 9... [More]

We are off to a great start in 2008 with an incredible 29% increase over December 2007. Information Management software published six IBM Redbooks publications in January: five books and one paper. The most active book in the month of January was "DB2 for z/OS Stored Procedures: Through the CALL and Beyond" followed by "Content Manager OnDemand Guide" . DB2 for z/OS Stored Procedures: Through the CALL and Beyond This IBM Redbook helps you design, install, manage, and tune stored procedures with DB2 for z/OS. Stored procedures can provide... [More]

Congratulations to Phil Gunning for the release of his latest book: DB2 9 for Developers ! This new book needs to be on your desk if you’re a DB2 developer or database administrator facing the task of implementing DB2 9. In it, recognized DB2 guru and top consultant Philip Gunning shows how we have integrated native XML into the DB2 engine and gives developers and DBAs a detailed roadmap for implementing and exploiting the new XML capabilities. Amazon.com is selling the book at a 37% discount. Also on amazon... see the latest 5 star reviews!... [More]

Here is what our instructors are saying about ILO : Instructor-Led Online courses truly offer a global learning opportunity. Having the option to take a course on your own terms, in the location of your choice, while still being able to experience live interaction with an instructor is highly beneficial for our global customers."- Joan Dunn , IBM certified instructor, U2 "When you look at Instructor-Led Online, it comes down to one thing: convenience. For the student on the go, online access to a real-time instructor means savings in time and... [More]

Make sure you bookmark the ChannelDB2 website to see the very latest videos that are uploaded. Rav Ahuja filmed me when we were in Las Vegas for the IOD conference last year where I spoke about the latest releases of books related to IM products. Here is the link: My Video . Personally I'm not happy with how it turned out... but my co-workers tell me that it's fine. (Do we ever like seeing ourselves on video?) I asked Rav to make an update as there have been several new books published since that recording was made. He suggested that I... [More]

Do you read the foreword for a book before you buy it? Sometimes the foreword contains some very valuable information to help you make a buying decision. Kim Moutsos , the Editor of DB2 Magazine and DB2mag.com, wrote the foreword for the book: Understanding DB2: Learning Visually with Examples (2nd Edition) by Raul Chong , Xiaomei Wang , Michael Dang , and Dwaine R. Snow . In my opinion, this is one of the best forewords that I've read and if I didn't already own the book, I would surely buy it after reading this. What a difference two... [More]

One of the things that I love about my job is the ability to meet highly motivated and creative people. Sam is a person who I've known of for years, but only recently am I getting to know him better. You see, although he's written two books, I wasn't involved with them.... but now I'm trying to get a new book idea of his signed. Another thing that I love about my job is that I'm in an office building with 2500 highly created people: IBM Toronto Lab. From an authoring perspective, we have many successful authors who work out of this... [More]

I posted last week about the vast number of retail books that are available in India at local prices. Did you know that Shroff Publishers also reprint IBM Redbooks? The following IBM Redbooks books are available for purchase, in printed format, through Shroff Publishing in India : AIX V6 Advanced Security Features Introduction and Configuration for Rs. 450AIX Version 6.1 provides many significant new security technologies and security enhancements. The purpose of this IBM Redbooks publication is to highlight and explain the security features... [More]

This one asks: Are you interested in taking instructor-led online training? I've mentioned ILO a few times, so let's see if you can recall! You can find the poll on the bottom left hand side of the IDUG home page . Be sure to vote for this one and the db2 mag poll .... Susan

Were you one of the very happy readers of the first edition of this book? If you check this book out on amazon.com ... you'll see that the first edition of the book had 17 extremely positive reviews of the book. People liked the way the material was presented in a graphical, visual way... the case studies.... and the review questions. On top of that, the authors know there stuff and spend much of their working life talking to customers and helping them understand how to use the product and the benefits each feature is likely to bring. From... [More]

I have been blog tagged by Willie Favero . Don't worry, its not as painful as it sounds! Basically, blog-tagging is a game, of sorts, that has been crawling its way through the blogosphere for awhile now. The way it works, when you are tagged by another blogger, you have to write a blog posting about yourself, with 8 things that others might not know. . . and then tag 8 other bloggers. So here goes: 1. I grew up in a very large family.... I'm the 4th of 8 kids; my mom is the oldest of 13 kids, and my dad is the oldest of 9. I have hundreds of... [More]

Ten years ago when I wrote my first book, I didn't have very much guidance or people who I could approach who could help me with the many questions I had. Now that I'm on the other side and have the job to help people get technical books published, I'm hoping that new authors have a radically different experience than I did. Last year I was involved in having 14 new books published, so in terms of credentials and experience, I continue to build on both each day. In terms of online information to help interested authors get started, I'd... [More]

Pre-order the latest book by Phil Gunning and receive a 40% discount! Book to ship in February. DB2 for Developers by Phil Gunning Written by an "in-the-trenches" consultant, this guide hails the newest version of DB2 as a major release, highlighting the large number of totally new features, most notably the addition of XML capabilities. Packed with the information DB2 developers and administrators need to know when implementing version 9, the discussion covers upgrading from prior releases of DB2, converting relational data to XML data, and... [More]